Autonomous vehicles are vehicles capable of sensing their environment and navigating without human input. Autonomous vehicles can include terrain-based vehicles (e.g., cars), watercraft, hovercraft, and aircraft. Autonomous vehicles can detect surroundings using a variety of techniques such as radar, lidar, GPS, odometry, and computer vision. Land-based autonomous vehicle guidance systems interpret sensory information to identify appropriate navigation paths, obstacles, and relevant signage. Land-based autonomous vehicles have control systems that can analyze sensory data to distinguish between different cars on the road, and guide themselves to desired destinations.
Among the potential benefits of autonomous vehicles (e.g., autonomous cars) are fewer traffic accidents, increased roadway capacity, reduced traffic congestion, and enhanced mobility for people. Autonomous cars can also relieve travelers from driving and navigation chores, freeing commuting hours with more time for leisure or work.
Autonomous vehicles will facilitate new business models of mobility as a service, including carsharing, e-hailing, ride hailing services, real-time ridesharing, and other services of the sharing economy.